In a message dated 12/22/2004 10:59:40 AM Pacific Standard Time,
a.yovich@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
If there
is such a risk with min. age then why do NATRC and other CTR organizations
do it? I'm not saying it's desirable or undesirable just asking the
question.
It's just a guess, but maybe it has something to do with the fact that in
NATRC the competitor may not be helped. By 10 years old, most children can
saddle and care for their horse and trot their horse out and be responsible for
everything. I know there are kids younger than this that are probably better
with horses than I am, haha, but 10 years old is the limit NATRC has set and I
think it is a good one. When my youngest was 10 he did his first NATRC ride. We
stood in camp and waved good-bye to him and he had his horse, his map and
his watch and he did it all by himself. We did go out to the P&R's and saw
him ride in and line up for his recoveries. We were pretty proud of him and it
was a great learning experience. At one ride, he was trotting his horse out for
the vet on Friday's check-in and he fell and got trampled. His hand was pretty
swollen and my husband took him to the hospital. I was at work (couldn't get the
weekend off) and they called from the hospital. I could hear him crying in the
background. Haha... he was crying because the doctor said he couldn't ride. I
said if he wanted to ride, let him. So he did the whole ride with one hand held
in the air (following doctor's orders) and one hand holding the reins of a very
forward moving Arab gelding. Again, this was by himself. His dad was a P&R
worker.
Sorry... this got rather long and boring, but I was on a trip down memory
lane as this kid is now 32 years old.
